nintendoscript15
Glad to be back! Had to make my grand return with something big! And what better way than a LORE DUMP?!
More Odyssey connections. The Ruined Kingdom always intrigued me. Whenever I visited it, I wondered "What happened to this place?" "Who lived here in the past?" "Where did the dragon come from?" Welp, if Nintendo's not gonna give us answers, then I'll do it myself!
The Toads were definitely the ones in the wrong back then, but the koopas kinda went too far when they made the dragon. Nowadays, the Toads are unaware of their ancestors' sins and are just peaceful folk.
He was genuine. The backstory is in fact true. I know in canon, Bowser's bad behavior stemmed from poor parenting by Kamek, but I wanted to get more creative and give Bowser an actual parent who abused him into becoming the way he is now.
The Topman Tribe already were kinda playing a bigger role, considering that they roboticized Alex. They got a lot more to come.
Bowser already lost his chances of winning her over the moment he murdered her parents. This just sinks said chances even further.
StarlitDuck
I'm glad I still got it! I am BACK! I kinda wanted to give Bowser some more depth by making his massive ego stem from trying to hide his insecurities. Doesn't excuse anything he's done as Peach points out (because again, trying to take over the universe is basically his way of making his ego ever larger to overtake his issues that he refuses to address), but it makes him a little more likable.
LiamTheYoshi
Again, the Stupa Koopa name is a shoutout. Maybe those kids who bullied Bowser watched some version of Mario Mentions, but with a different mascot since Mario wasn't famous yet at this time.
Well, Bowser had to make Peach comfortable in some way. Just because they're evil doesn't mean they're bad cooks.
He'll probably get an even worse fate than that if we're being honest. Remember how the game ended?
KazamaFam2006
Okay, I've dragged on the interlude long enough. I promise the star hunting will resume in this chapter!
He did meet Peach in his childhood. Remember Partners in Time?
We don't know exactly what Merlon is because he's shrouded in that cloak. He could be related to Peach's family for all we know.
It's okay. While I do have ideal voices in my head on what the characters could sound like, I'm not gonna force said beliefs on others. You can "hear" these characters however you like.
Amethyst Goldenwind
Yeah. Unfortunately, he's come to enjoy his evil ways too much to really think about making any changes now.
And don't worry. She's got plenty of other dresses (of different colors). The Toads will probably fix it once this is all over.
And I will keep this mysterious leader a mystery for now.
VittorioFGC
Y'know, Intelligent Systems, the developers of Fire Emblem, also developed Paper Mario. So it's kinda surprising that Bowser wasn't given that morally grey treatment in that series. The closest we get is Kammy Koopa briefly hand waving their motives in the first game without really elaborating on it. "[The Toads] deserve [not getting their wishes granted] for the way they've treated us Koopas over the years!" What did they ever do to you guys, and why? That's what I wondered for the longest time. If Nintendo and Intelligent Systems won't explain it, then I might as well. Still, of course it doesn't excuse anything they're doing.
Also, add Bowser killing Peach's parents to the list of crimes. Had to make an explanation on why they're nowhere to be seen in the games despite being mentioned in the manual of Super Mario Bros.
SuperSilverNova
Glad you got an account! Not really a fan of Sonic Underground, but maybe I'll check it out sometime. And thank you so much for your compliments.
Well, revenge consumes a person. "You are what you hate."
Oh, that explains it. Make sure you double check your reviews for mistakes like that.
Oh, and one last note. To the person who made a spammy guest review asking me to read their story, no! I do not appreciate that type of behavior. Reviews are for commenting on a fanfic, not for promoting your own fanfics. You can ask people to read your stories, but not force them. The review is now deleted.
Chapter 29: The Floating Fortress
After passing out from that unorthodox sighting on Aster, Mario woke up in seemingly complete darkness. Did the Observatory lose power overnight? He looked around for any Lumas, Rosalina, the Toad Brigade, or others. Nobody… Mario walked amongst the darkness, waiting for something to happen. Surely, something about this would make sense soon… right?
"Luma…? Are you seeing this?" He took off his hat to get a response from his companion, but his hat… it was empty. Only his tuft of brown hair lied beneath it.
Terrified, Mario put his cap back on and walked around, even though it didn't look like there was anything to really walk towards or away from. It almost reminded him of the World of Nothing he explored in his previous adventure. He still had chills from that event. No trace of life left behind…
"Aster?! Rosalina?! Alex?! Toad?! A-Anybody…?!" Mario called out. "Heck, I'd settle for Bowser at this point."
"You are alone… Star Child," whispered a voice.
Mario froze, his eyes rapidly looked around for a source of the voice. Said eyes were growing ever larger from the lack of light.
But still, there was nothing… Nothing at all. He couldn't even hallucinate a physical object.
"Where…" Mario muttered. "...am I? W-Who are you?"
Well, nothing happened. Nothing… physically… at least. But his ear drums were soon pounded by the buzzings of saws, the sounds of massive lasers, loud explosions that sounded big enough to blow up entire planets complete with crumbling, and lastly thousands, perhaps even millions of screams. One of them, which was more clear than the rest, sounded almost familiar.
"A-ASTER?! Aster, I'm coming!"
Mario ran toward where he thought the voices were coming from. He wasn't sure of whether or not he was getting closer, as the voices just seemed to remain at the same volume and frequency.
He finally tripped and everything he heard went silent. Mario slowly raised his head, rubbing it from the severe headache. His ears were ringing intensely as he rubbed them to hopefully calm them down. He started to see some shades of orange and blue in his blurred vision and stood still until it cleared up. What stood before him was a massive nebula-like object in space. It was eye-shaped, with outer layers appearing in shades of red, orange, and yellow, and had an inner circle that appeared bluish. The eye stared directly at him, as he stared back. The image burned its way into his very soul, reflecting off his scleras.
"Mario…"
Mario did nothing but gently breathe in its presence, only to get warped straight out of this reality with another call of his name.
"Mario!"
Mario jumped right off the floor and smacked Aster in the face with his fist without looking. He blinked his eyes rapidly before the blurriness faded and he saw Aster rubbing his face after the hit. Mario wondered how he got here at first, but then looked down to see he was lying in the same place he fell asleep. Of course, the whole thing was a dream. What else? He decided to think about it later and stood up to check Aster's wound.
[[BGM: Rosalina in the Observatory 2 - Super Mario Galaxy]]
"A-Aster are you okay?" asked Mario. "Sorry. I was just kinda alarmed."
"In Grambi's name, is this how you say 'Good Morning!' these days? Can't say I'm very flattered by it," the astronaut snarked in response.
Mario giggled. "Yep, you're fine."
"So… mind telling me why you were sleeping on the floor?"
Mario rubbed his eyes again to wake himself, then sighed. "Don't get me wrong, Aster. It's great that the Lumas will be able to survive now that the whole Observatory has been lit up. But now it makes it harder for me to get any sleep!"
"Hmm… can't say I blame you for that," Aster mused as he shook his head. "The outside area of the observatory was never meant to be slept in in the first place. But due to our limited star energy at this moment, we have to take what we can get."
Then he perked up. "But not to worry, though. You've been a great help in restoring that star energy. Thanks to you, three of the four domes on the lower level of the Comet Observatory are working again. The last dome, The Bedroom, should be opened once we gather one more Grand Star. You and your friends will have a proper place to sleep by then."
Mario smiled hearing this news. "Then I guess we'd better get back out there for more star hunting. That Grand Star won't find itself."
"That's the spirit!" Aster patted Mario's shoulder. "Now come to the kitchen. We'll have breakfast, and then take off immediately."
"Wahoo!" Mario cheered as he followed. "Say, what's with the sudden peppy spirit, Astee? You'd usually groan or lecture me."
"Well…" Aster paused for a moment. "You've just been a great help for all of us, and I don't think I could thank you enough…"
"I'm one who is willing to help anyone in need, Aster. You don't need to thank me. Just keep up the good attitude! I like it!" Mario exclaimed. He stared down at Aster's leg for a moment, still picturing the mechanical image under it from last night. He wanted to ask about it, but didn't wish to ruin his current mood, so he held off the thought.
Both of them followed the newly lit up red pipe which extended up a bunch of tables covered in green table cloth, surrounding the brown tower to form a staircase. Mario remembered the hard time that he and Alex had trekking up these things, but with the energy returned to him, Mario platformed up these table stairs with ease. As he did, he took a look at all the cutlery adorning the tower, cabinets filled with champagne bottles, white dinner plates with cerulean outlines, wine glasses, as well as large spoons and forks. In Mario's opinion, these supplies looked like they were made for meals fit for gods, and he nearly mouth watered thinking of such meals.
The Kitchen dome itself stood at the top of the tower, across from a bridge at the top of the library connecting the two. The dome was made out of solid brown bricks with a smoking chimney and a flat green top. Like the Terrace and Fountain before it, the entrance was made of gold and jewels with star symbols at the top, and was surrounded by two poles with stars at the top.
Both of them entered the dome once again, this time for breakfast. Mario was admittedly too distracted by the smell of lasagna the previous night to really appreciate the atmosphere of the kitchen itself, so he took the moment to do it now.
Kitchen
[[BGM: Unused World Map 2 - Super Mario Galaxy 2]]
The inside greeted him with the calmness of its peach-colored walls with green architecture. The window showed a spectacular view of the nearby stars with a nebula in sight, and there was a sink beneath it, with a small potted evergreen tree right next to it. Mario saw Rosalina cooking breakfast by the round furnace which would lead up to the chimney. He grabbed a plate from the table next to it underneath the pottery and sat down at the star-shaped table next to Alex, who was already eating.
"'Morning, Rosalina! 'Morning Alex!" said Mario in his peppy mood. "So, what's for breakfast?"
Alex said nothing, but Rosalina smiled. "Good morning, Mario. Today I am serving pancakes, but with a twist. A special kind of syrup that's common in space, but rare on your planet: Star Bit syrup."
"Oooh!" said the intrigued plumber. "I'm all for it!"
"I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's a delicacy among the lumas," Rosalina said as she served stacks of them to the three.
Whereas Aster and Alex ate them slowly, Mario stabbed his fork through all three of his pancakes and inha;ed them like a beast.
"Mmm mmm! A surprisingly good combination," Mario applauded.
"Do you always eat like that?" asked Aster with slight annoyance.
"I'm just eager to get back into the star hunting and find my brother. Don't mind me," said Mario.
"Don't forget my sister…" Alex finally spoke.
"I was gonna mention her too. How are you feeling by the way, amico?"
"B-Better than yesterday… I guess," Alex muttered.
"Hey, I know you're still…" Mario paused when he remembered Aster's lecture on tact and tried to process the right words. "I-I know… things… haven't been going in our favor the past few days… But I'm here now. And I'm willing to do anything to have the happy and cheerful Alex I know back. Just say the word and I'll put a smile on your face."
"Better do it before we go off to collect stars," Aster reminded.
Alex then finished his food and turned himself towards Mario.
"Actually… I've been thinking about this for a while. I know you're probably not gonna like this, and I don't really know how I feel either. But it just hit me now, and I really have to do this…"
Alex faced Mario with a serious, no-nonsense demeanor. "I'm going with you, Mario."
Aster choked on his pancakes for a moment after hearing that sentence before he finally chewed and swallowed.
"Y-You're serious?" questioned the normally peppy plumber. "Don't get me wrong, Alex. I'm glad you want to help, but…"
"I know! I know! 'It's too dangerous!' 'Alex, you're gonna get traumatized!' 'You can't go out there, again!' 'What if you're turned back to Alpha Pandora?' The lumas wouldn't shut up!"
Mario was slightly taken aback by his aggressive tone, but Rosalina waved her hand.
"Erm… let me handle this, Alex," said the space leader. "He and I talked earlier this morning. I gave him some better insight on the whole situation and cleared up any confusions."
"I know I didn't mean what I did, Mario. But to me, it doesn't matter! It was still my body that beat you up, my voice that tortured you, and my weapons that nearly destroyed you. I want to make up for what I did in every way I can! Also…" Alex pounded his fist on the table with teeth clenching. "Topmaniac… If it's the last thing I do, I will destroy him and all of his robot minions for what he's done to me! And I know he's still out there… My armor can still detect his presence…"
The cyborg kid stood up with fists of fury in the air. "So I'm going to use my new powers for good! With the fact that we're exploring outer space of all places, this change for me is probably for the best…"
"But Alex…" said Mario.
Alex growled and almost considered screaming at him for considering his rejection. But then he remembered how his words as Alpha mentally destroyed his friend and shuddered at the thought of awakening this remain again. So instead, he broke down onto his knees crying. "Please Mario! PLEASE! You have to let me do this! You said you'd do anything to bring the old me back again, right? ANYTHING! Well, this is the only way! Please…"
He continued to sob at Mario's knees. The plumber turned his head at Aster, who looked down at the kid and sighed.
"I really don't want to do this, but I don't want you to be here crying, throwing fits, and scaring the lumas either," Aster began. "You can come, but just know that what's waiting out there for you is like nothing you've ever seen before."
"I've already gotten a taste of that…" Alex grumbled.
"And one condition; you are never to be alone! You will be supervised by at least one other experienced person at all times!"
"Fine by me," Alex agreed. "Just as long as I get to beat the robots. And don't get in my way…"
The three finished up their breakfast and Rosalina made her exit from the kitchen.
"Good luck, boys. May the stars shine down on you…"
The three waved as she left. Luma and Polari then entered.
"Good morning, Mario! I'm ready for adventure!" Luma saluted.
Mario took off his cap and held it upside down. "Hop right in, little stella (star)!"
Luma hopped into the cap and Mario put it back on.
"Alright, guys. I hope you're ready to take off!" Polari announced. He turned to Alex, visible concern taking over his two little blue eyes. "Um… Alex, are you really sure you-?"
"For the last time, YES!" Alex snapped. "I'm going and that's FINAL! Now shut up!
Mario and Aster both cringed at the sight of his behavior.
"We really need to get him into combat," Mario thought.
"R-Right… A-Anyways… Mario, would you like to handle teaching our new friend how to visit galaxies? Take this as a testament of what you've learned."
"Gladly!" Mario smiled and nodded. "Well, see that blue star-shaped thingy-mabob? That's a Pull Star."
"Pull Star?" Alex wondered.
"Yes! There's one in each of this Observatory's domes, and they'll allow us to observe and visit each of the galaxies within view." Mario closed his eyes, as did Aster. "To use it, you must concentrate your mind, and the star will pull you to it."
Alex witnessed the Pull Star pulsate with energy, emitting a distorted flute-like noise, and pull the two heroes straight up to it. For the first time since his capture in the Battlerock, Alex's visible eye widened up with the twinkles of stars glimmering in his vision. He's seen a lot of strange yet fascinating things within Mario's world, but this was taking it to the next level. Now he wondered if this was just the beginning.
Aster opened an eye to see him still in awe. "Are you coming or not?"
Alex brought himself back to reality. "Uh… s-sorry!" The cyborg child shut his visible eye and let his mind wander. "Focus… focus… focus…"
Within a minute, the Pull Star caught his energy and pulled him straight to it.
"Okay Alex. Open your eyes!" said Mario.
Alex did so slowly. His vision was blurry at first. But he quickly rubbed his eye to see the wonders that awaited him. The kid was practically speechless. The Kitchen he was just in was completely gone, replaced with a vast ocean of the cosmos surrounding him and his allies. An asteroid belt in the back along with four blurred galaxies orbited around them.
"Wh-Where… are we?" Alex asked with the little energy he could muster.
"What you see now, Alex, is the local group of galaxies we can view from this dome orbiting around us. And from here, we can visit said galaxies as well," Aster explained.
"That's… amazing!" Alex examined the galaxies around him, wondering what new adventures could await him and his friends.
As the kid looked, Mario examined as well. Something struck him as slightly off. There was no fifth galaxy moving under a different type elliptical orbit like in the last two domes. Both of those previous times, that galaxy would turn out to be Bowser's enemy base. But if there's no enemy base in the Kitchen, then where would they find the Grand Star?
Mario shrugged it off. He was sure they'd run into it eventually. For now, they'd just have to focus on regular Power Stars.
"Anyways… we've got four galaxies to choose from. The ones that are numbered 16 and 20 respectively indicate how far they are from us in light years, and we'll need a certain amount of star power in order to reach them," Mario continued. Alex nodded, but his attention was focused on something else.
"What about those other two?" Alex pointed towards the two other galaxies that took the form of blue ? blocks.
Mario just scratched his head. "I'm not exactly sure. Galaxies that appear that way just kinda become available whenever they feel like it. I never caught on to a pattern with them."
"Ooh! I think one of them's clearing up!" said Luma, peering out of Mario's cap. Sure enough, one of the ? block galaxies did clear up. The galaxy appeared as a giant half-sphere shaped bowl. Almost looked like a punch bowl, only with water. The "punch bowl" had a few islands on a surface as well as a massive tower with grass and cannons all over it. A spherical planet with a brown bottom, red top, and a bolted spot with a gray stripe extending from it loomed over the tower.
"I remember this place… Buoy Base," claimed Aster. "This was one of many towers used in battles that raged throughout the universe many years ago. I wonder if it's still being used today… The only thing that strikes me as somewhat suspicious is that red planet floating above the tower. That wasn't there before…"
Mario examined the strange planet. He was quite perplexed about it as well. "It looks like a Poké-"
"Come on! Let's go!" interrupted Alex. "I'd like to run into some robots and smash them!"
Mario sighed. He really hoped that once the kid could vent himself through some combat, he'd mellow out again. But still… would he ever be the same again?
"Okie dokie. Let's-a go…"
A Launch Star appeared and the newly formed trio were sent blasting towards Buoy Base Galaxy.
[BGM end]
Buoy Base Galaxy
[BGM: Course Intro - Super Mario Galaxy]
As Mario and Co. arrived at the tower, the three swiftly flew around the junk surrounding the bowl and landed on a small island perched straight in front of the base. Having a closer view of the base now, Mario could definitely get a militaristic vibe coming from this tower. The Buoy Base was colored in three different shades of brown which was patterned to resemble outfits that camouflaged military officers would wear. He noticed some robots with gears running in their heads at work in the tower. The cannons near the top appeared to be inactive save for a few Water Shooters firing bubble-like cannons, which oddly resembled his old companion FLUDD who is now under the care of Aqua. Seeing them made the plumber wonder how the girl and pump were doing.
A large pulsating beaming light was seen seeping out of the cracks of the red planet above the tower. Mario knew that was their end goal.
[[BGM: Buoy Base Galaxy (above water) - Super Mario Galaxy]]
"Looks like the fortress is undergoing some upkeep at the moment. So we shouldn't have to worry about the cannons shooting us down," Aster examined. "Still, keep on your toes."
"It's so… massive…" Alex stared in awe.
"How exactly are we gonna get up there?" said Mario.
Aster examined the area for a possible opening. But then he was distracted by a greenish light coming from a distant planet at least a light year away. His thoughts were instantly magnetized towards the light, and made it his new target.
"Well, you guys can figure that out on your own. I'm splitting." Aster jumped into the water as Mario flabbergastingly turned to him.
"WHAT?! WHY?!"
"There's two stars in this galaxy. We'll be able to save the universe faster if we grab them separately."
"But what about the other day when you refused to let me split off to another one-star galaxy?! Or when you were all like 'Only one Star!' What's your excuse?!" Mario fumed.
"That was back when you were what ancient folklores called, a 'knave'. But I'll admit. You've gotten pretty… adequate now. So I'll let you off without me for now. You can show Alex the ropes as you go."
"I don't care! We're a team! If we're going to save Peach and the universe together, we will stick together through thick and thi-!"
Aster slapped him. "I'm not gonna just wade in here and argue with you like we're some married couple! I'm taken, and I'm off! Later!"
He dived into the waters below, and it was just the plumber and the cyborg kid.
Mario sighed and sat down. "There's still so much to him that I don't understand… It's constantly back and forth!"
"That guy's your 'friend'?" Alex deadpanned as if to push more salt into the wound.
"He's… a bit complicated… I'll admit that. But I promise you he's sweet deep down. You'll get used to him," said the plumber.
"So… about getting up the tower?"
Mario looked up to his cap. "Luma, any ideas?
"Sorry, Mario. I can fly, but there's no way I can carry the weight of the both of you. Uh… no offense."
"None taken. Hmm… I see a ledge to grab on to, but it's too high up to reach… Oh!" Mario spawned a proverbial lightbulb. "Alex, one of your cyborg enhancements was a pair of jetpacks. Maybe we can use those to fly up there!"
Alex weakly smiled. "I… guess that could help."
"Alright. Grab me from behind, and hoist me by the chest," Mario instructed.
Alex hopped on his back and pressed onto his chest as hard as he could.
"Urgh… n-not… t-too… h-hard…" Mario winced.
Alex loosened his iron grip.
"Oof… You're getting strong, amico."
"You're just saying that because I'm part robot now."
"No! No, I mean it! Now, let's-a fly!"
Alex activated his new jetpacks and lifted Mario's feet off the ground. Both were awestruck as the two got closer and closer to the ledge on the tower.
"We're doing it! We're doing it!" Alex shouted with a ray of excitement that hadn't touched him since his capture by the Topman Tribe.
Mario beamed confidently with this success. Maybe Aster was right. Maybe he was getting better as things went along, especially now that he had the help of a friend. He always carried the belief his parents taught him that love of all kinds, friendship, romantic, or otherwise, will overcome all. His previous adventure through dimensions, with love being what brought back and empowered the Pure Hearts, only further proven those feelings for him. And now that he saved the Toad Brigade and Alex, he knew he was on the right path to saving the others. And he knew that together they could- No! They will save the universe from falling into Bowser's clutches!
The ledge looked more and more welcoming as they got closer, as if to reach out its hand. Mario reached out his hand preparing for impact. But before even his index finger could touch the artificial grass on the ledge… they stopped.
"Hmm?" Mario looked back to see that Alex's jetpacks stopped producing fire. Only smoke. "Mamma-!"
Both of them fell and splashed into the water. Both surfaced and caught their breaths.
"What happened?" questioned Mario.
"I don't know! When Evil Me used these jetpacks, he could fly as long as he wanted!" Alex griped.
"I guess Aster and I gave a very bad beating to Alpha, to the point where the jetpack was damaged," he assumed.
"Great…" Alex shrugged. "Now what?"
[switch to (underwater) theme]
Meanwhile, Aster was exploring the waters underneath the base. He held his breath tightly as he witnessed the interior of the gigantic bowl with red outlines. The waters were inhabited by a few Bloopers who'd pose no harm as long as one kept their distance, and cannons that were meant to shoot out whatever they'd perceive as invaders. At the center, some propellers kept the Buoy Base floating, though there was a certain round weight preventing an unfinished infrastructure of the tower from floating up to the surface.
Aster wasn't concerned about it at the moment. He had to find an opening leading to the underside of the dome. He knew there was one down there, as he had been there before, but forgot where it was. It didn't help that the waters were somewhat dark, preventing him from seeing much beyond a few feet.
"Where is it? That pipe has gotta be around here somewhere… Hopefully it hasn't been taken down since my last visit…"
He listened for even the faint warping sound of a pipe. He knew the sound of that would mean one is close by. For a while, he heard nothing but the calmness of the waves above him swishing back and forth, and the bubbles arising from the bottom of the bowl. Though eventually he did hear something non-water like. It sounded like a faint droning sound. The sound suspiciously got louder, and the droning would become more high pitched and faster. Aster looked around and to his horror, he was being followed.
The object followed him resembled a Bullet Bill, but it had a slimmer body, a grayish body as opposed to the Bill's black, a torpedo on it's back propelling it forward, eyes that were glowing red and looked excited when combined with its mischievous smile, a headlight where the nose would be to see better in these dark waters, and more robotic-like arms. One of the underwater cannons had fired a Torpedo Ted, and it perceived Aster as a threat.
Aster immediately started swimming as fast as he could upon seeing the Torpedo Ted on his tail. He used a barrel roll tactic to hopefully outswim it. But the Ted only started moving faster. In a fit of panic, Aster immediately searched for something to hide behind in order to confuse the missile. He perceived a round object connected by a chain start to appear in his vision. Without hesitation or time to think, Aster hid behind the sphere and the Ted collided with the object in an explosion, completely destroying it along with its chain.
[switch to (above water) theme]
Meanwhile, Mario and Alex heard the explosion from above and would've jumped into the air had they not been in the water.
"Woah!"
"Mamma Mia! Was that a Bob Omb?!"
"That sounded too loud to be one!"
With the weight destroyed, the infrastructure rose back up to the surface, catching Mario and Alex onto it unexpectedly.
[switch to (underwater) theme]
Back underwater, Aster was dazed from the situation, but quickly reconstructed himself.
"Oh, Jayde's mother! I hope I didn't cause too much damage! Focus, Aster! You're on a mission! I should probably get a better search on the ocean floor."
He was lucky to have brought up that idea, because his round cheeks were starting to shrink down and he saw his life flashing before his eyes. Aster quickly swam down to the bottom, where he sucked on an air bubble from a pump. Then he swam around in search for that pipe, only to run into a Blooper minding its business. Aster put on a sheepish smile, only for the Blooper to angrily spray ink into his face. Internally screaming, Aster swam rapidly in all directions until a pipe sucked him down its drain.
[switch to (above water) theme]
Back on the surface…
"Whatever happened down there was surprisingly convenient. Now we can just wall jump up there!" said Mario.
"Finally! Some progress!" Alex approached the walls and prepared to wall jump, only for a square-shaped gray wall perpendicular to him to wake up. It had a frowning mouth with puffy cheeks, rectangular eyebrows, and ovular eyes with black irises. It tried to push Alex off the tower, only for Mario to grab him out of the way.
"Wait!"
The being known as a Bomp stayed out for a few seconds, then backed back into the wall and closed its eyes.
"Alright. Quick, before it wakes up again!"
The two of them wall jumped up the structure as the Bomp woke up again and finally made it up to the ledge they were targeting.
"Woohoo! We made it!" Mario cheered, not noticing the ambush waiting up there.
"Mario, look out!" Alex pointed to an Octoguy who spat a rock to Mario's head.
"Oof!"
"Hey! No one hurts my friend!" Alex fired blasts out of his cannon and incinerated them both.
"Ooh… Thanks, Alex."
"That felt good!" Alex grinned.
They climbed up a few more steps before coming face to face with a Thwomp, stomping up and down with clearly nothing better to do with its life.
"New target!" Alex tried to blast the Thwomp with the same energy blast he used on the Octoguys. But the blasts didn't leave so much as a dent on the being. "WHAT?!"
"HA HA HA! STUPID KID! WE THWOMPS ARE INDESTRUCTIBLE!" the Thwomp taunted.
Alex growled and prepared another energy blast, only for Mario to solemnly force his arm down.
"Forget it, Alex. It's not worth it. These guys don't do anything with their lives other than move up and down, anyways. Quite pitiful."
The Thwomp grunted and began pounding the ground even faster.
"Just great! You just made him mad!" Alex chastised.
"Relax! There are other ways to get around." Mario spotted a blue Star Chip on top of the Thwomp and smirked. "Besides, we can still steal from them. Hoist me up!"
Mario jumped into Alex's hands, and he threw him up on top of the Thwomp. Mario grabbed the Star Chip and jumped down on the other side. Alex used his jetpack to fly around the Thwomp, then it produced just smoke again.
"Looks like this thing will take awhile to recharge…" Alex noted on his jetpack.
"It's fine. There's no true adventure if it's too easy."
"Heh…" Alex weakly laughed. "So… what is that thing you grabbed?"
"Oh, this?" Mario held out the Blue Star Chip. "This-
"This is a Star Chip!" Luma butted in. "They're the broken off pieces of either Launch, Sling, or Pull Stars depending on the color. We found one, so there should be four more nearby."
Mario scrunched his eyebrows. "You didn't have to explain it for me."
"Couldn't help myself. Sorry!" Luma popped back into the cap.
Mario put away the Star Chip and the two faced another Thwomp, once again pounding onto the ground in an endless cycle with no end to its eternal fury. But its one fatal flaw was being too slow, as Mario and Alex easily slipped under it. They also slipped under the third Thwomp the same way.
"Noooooooo! We're so gonna get fired for this!" the second Thwomp moped.
"They can't do that to us even if they wanted to because we're physically unable to leave this tower," said the third Thwomp.
"Oh, right."
The two heroes continued forward when they came across the area of those two familiar looking blue pumps shooting out bubbles like they were somehow cannons. The ones Mario saw from the bottom of the tower earlier.
"Those remind me of that water pump you used back in Super Mario Sunshine." Alex reminisced. "What was it called again?"
"FLUDD…" Now that Mario had a closer look, they really did look like FLUDD, except blue. They had the same round nozzle, and had large gray bolts on their sides. Before he could process this further, the Water Shooter fired a bubble at him that instantly trapped Mario inside him and sent him flying down to the water below.
"Mario! You ok?!" Alex called out.
"I'm fine! I'll come back up! Just wait!"
As Mario made his way back up to the tower, he was approached by three Gearmos.
"Extraterrestrial being! We are in need of assistance," said the pink Gearmo.
"The Topman Tribe have come here and invaded our base! They replaced our cannons with these strange Water Shooters that were recently added to their tribe!" added the blue Gearmo.
"Can you try giving that valve over there a twist to turn them off? We've tried it ourselves, but our claws can't turn it even an inch," instructed the yellow Gearmo.
Alex looked over to see a green valve on the other side of the platform just asking to get twisted down.
"On it!" Alex jumped over the portions where the Water Shooters would fire and grabbed a hold of the valve. He attempted to twist it down, but it wouldn't move an inch. He tried twisting the other way, but nothing came out of that either.
"Oh no! Not even he can do it! We're doomed!" a Gearmo relented.
Mario made it back up to see Alex still trying.
"Let me give it a try."
Mario grabbed the valve and tried to pull it himself. It still wouldn't move.
"What is this thing made out of?! Is it jammed?!" Mario vented.
"I got an idea! Jump on top of the valve and spin!" Luma instructed.
"Okay…" Mario trusted him and did so. The valve spun and sunk into the floor, deactivating the Water Shooters.
"Th-That was easy…"
"Never doubt the power of the spin!" Luma proclaimed as he went back into the cap.
"Thanks, strangers! You were a big help!" the robots saluted as they got back to work. Just then, a green Topman soldier without a spike appeared out of a vortex.
"How did you deactivate our defenses?! Only a Topman can operate the valve! You'll pay!" The Green Topman tried to ram into our heroes. Without a spike on its head, Mario jumped onto the robot, causing it to spring Mario upwards to a higher area, while revealing its springy insides with confetti coming out, and its upper area glowing orange. "Bzzzrt… party time! Woooo!"
"Ha ha! They sent the wrong Topman for this job!" Mario taunted.
Alex jumped up the spring as well and blasted the Topman to smithereens as soon as he got up. "One down. I hope to do this to Topmaniac one day…"
Meanwhile…
[BGM pause]
Speaking of the devil. In a far off galaxy, Topmaniac was undergoing repairs while watching Mario and Alex make their way up the tower.
"REMIND ME WHY THE MASTER BUILT THOSE SPRING TOPMEN AGAIN…"
[BGM resume]
Back in Buoy Base, Mario tightened up a giant blue screw the same way he did the valve, activating several moving platforms with inactive cannons in them, rotating around the tower in different directions at a slow pace. Alex grabbed a second Star Chip that was tucked inside one of those platforms, only to get electrocuted by an Amp that suck up behind them.
"Yeeeeow!" Alex winced. His systems malfunctioned for a moment. Mario pulled him away and they grabbed a third chip from a Goomba on a stationary platform.
Alex's jetpack meter rose up slightly. So he grabbed on to Mario and flew him towards a higher set of moving platforms. The two of them then weaved their way through, particularly using the longer platforms moving the opposite direction of the shorter ones as an advantage. They eventually got their hands on a Blue Star Chip on a stationary platform.
"One more… Let's-a check the top of the tower," Mario suggested.
The two jumped up there onto a flat top and came across another new type of Topman. This one looked somewhat similar to the Spring Topman, but it appeared to be stationary and had yellow garages with arrows for a lower body.
"Alpha Pandora? What are you doing here? And why is this intruder with you?! Destroy him!"
Alex proceeded to have more flashbacks of his time as the dreaded Alpha Pandora that wouldn't leave his mind no matter how hard he tried. The kid fell to his knees and grunted as he clutched his head intensely. Mario stood in front of him.
"He is not Alpha Pandora! That monster is dead! He is Alex, and he is my friend!"
"You… You reprogrammed him?! How could you?!" An electric fence surrounded the circular arena. "Get him, my children! Make me proud!"
The Sentry Garage summoned four Topminis. "We got your back, mama!" they said in unison with cutsey voices.
"You're joking, right?" Mario thought as he instantly spun around on the four Topminis who tried to ram him and destroyed them instantly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I already mailed the child support check…"
The Sentry Garage gave audible crying noises. Alex rolled his eyes and blasted her apart. From the rubble appeared the final Star Chip. Mario took all the pieces together and they floated up to a space between the tower and the red and brown planet, becoming a Pull Star.
"Woohoo! Nice work, Alex!" Mario cheered.
"Heh… I guess this machinery can do some good…" Alex weakly chuckled.
"And you'll only get better with it. Now, let's-a do this again. Concentrate…"
The two focused their minds and let the Pull Star pull them upwards. The gravity field of the planet got ahold of them and they landed on its metallic surface.
Alex looked up from where he was at. The tower and ocean that he and Mario had just explored was now straight above his head like it was a ceiling. Sometimes back at home, when he was alone in the basement not doing anything in particular, Alex would try to tilt his head upside down and try to interpret what the world look like if he were walking on the ceiling. Now it felt as if he had actually just experienced it itself.
"Woah…"
"Yeah. Gravity does some wild things," admitted Mario.
The two walked around the planet to look for a possible opening. The nut-looking Ball Beamer they were standing on was unleashing lasers that hugged around the planet's circumference. Mario and Alex avoided the lasers until they dispersed at its equator, only to see another set of lasers coming from the other side.
Running over to the planet's north pole, the duo encountered another Ball Beamer, this time with a bolt screwed into it.
"How can a planet be this small?" asked Alex.
"No time for questioning!"
Mario jumped on the bolt and used spin. It was super effective!
Mario unscrewed the bolt, prying the top half of the planet open to reveal an ocean underneath. And a star happened to be in the center.
"Nice work, Mario!" Alex cheered.
They both dived into the planet and claimed it's Star.
[BGM: Power Star Get - Super Mario Galaxy]
YOU GOT A STAR!
While Mario and Alex were scaling the tower, Aster came out of a pipe at the bottom of the water bowl, on top of a red girder. He rubbed off the ink from the Blooper and examined his surroundings. Five Bullet Bills surrounded a cage with a Launch Star in it, guarded by four large Zap Balls.
"I hate Bloopers… Alright. Time to get into action. Mario's previous teachings should help here."
Aster made his way around the Bullet Bill cannons, managing to attract two to chase him in the process. Aster kicked away some Goombeetles that stood in the way and allowed one Bullet Bill to hit a Zap Ball to stop them, and the other to blast open the cage, freeing the Launch Star.
"Green Star, here I come!"
Aster entered the Launch Star and blasted off for a distant planet.
Peach's Castle
Meanwhile, Bowser Jr. saw him and the planet he was headed for through Kamek's magic crystal and smiled wickedly.
"Alright boys, bring it in!"
A group of Hammer Bros. slowly brought in a large box the size of two Bowser's beds stacked on top of each other. One Hammer Bro had his legs trembling, seemingly about to snap at any second.
"Here you go, Lord Junior. It's complete."
A Topman saucer arrived and magnetized the box straight to it, then flew off into space. The Hammer Bro who had his legs trembling collapsed onto the floor in relief.
"Big and slow ain't the way to go! Fast and small will bring doom to all!" Junior rapped with a cackle to follow.
A/N: Added a shoutout at the end of the last chapter.
Edit: Made some edits answering StarlitDuck's feedback, and other minor changes.